To ensure a federal role in civil aviation safety, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill creating the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) on August 22, 1938. The CAA included a three-member air safety board that could conduct research in the best ways to prevent accidents and investigate if an accident were to occur. The CAA played a major role in regulating civil aviation, determining routes served by individual carriers. In 1940, President Roosevelt split the CAA into two agencies—the Civil Aeronautics Administration and the Civil Aeronautics Board. The CAA was replaced by the Federal Aviation Agency—known today as the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA—in 1958.
Preston, Edmund. FAA Historical Chronology: Civil Aviation and the Federal Government 1926-1996. Washington, DC: Dept. of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Office of Public Affairs, 1998.
“A Brief History of the FAA.” Federal Aviation Administration. January 04, 2017. Accessed April 16, 2018. https://www.faa.gov/about/history/brief_history/.